St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-01-16
REVOLVER SHOOTING.
The Popular Notion That 1t Requires
Wonderful Nerve and Steadiness to
Shoot Pistol.
Some Of the Remarkable Things Done by
Frank Lord, the Famous Pistol
Shot of America.
ANY Intelligent Man With Good Eye
Sight and Ordinary Nerve Can
Learn TO Shoot.
Special Revolver --Illustra-
tions to Give Extra Force to the
Letter Press.
Special Correspondence of the Globe.

Special Correspondence of the Globe.
New YORK, Jan. 13.-The thing that is
interesting marksmen now is revolver
shooting. and they are all taking hold OF it.
Good pistol shots have been made rare be-
cause very few persons have paid any at
tention to pistol practice since the fashion
of dueling fell into disrepute. tits popu-
lar notion, too, that it requires wonderful
nerve and steadiness to shoot pistol &C
curately, and that idea has deferred people
from taking up the little weapon. Capt.
John Travis was the great pistol shot of
the country thirty or forty years ago,
and Recorder Hackett had a great
reputation for accuracy with the
pocket gun, but the weapons of their day
were inferior to the modern breech-loader
and they could not make such targets as
are made to-day by our crack shots. A
pistol match was always one of the events
of the New York state sportSmen'S con-
ventions from 1865 up. to 1881, when it was
dropped for lack of competitors. Among
the winners of these matches were John B.
Sage. still good shot, E. b. Hambleton,
j. B. Higham, j. NJ. Wilmer, J. H.
Brown and Others all of Northern New
York. In France are many fine shots. as
the duel still survives there and a gentle
man may be called upon to handle a pistol
III earnest at any time. The
most famous pistol gallery in the world
is that of GastinneRenette in Paris, which
was established eighty years ago, and some
great scores have been made there. The
French target has bulFs-eye one and three
siXteenthS of an inch i'll diameter, with a
white spot called the carton, three eghthS
of All inch in diameter. Around the bulls
eye are rings three-eighths of an inch apart.
The carton counts Z, the bulPs-eye 6, first
ring 5, and so down to zero for the
outside. The regulation distance
is sixteen meters. or fiftY-two and
One-half feet. and the weapon used is a
single barrel breech-lOader, ri1ed, carrying
a ball of the same diameter as the carton.
For twelve shots all touching the bulIs-eye
the grand prize or grand medaille dor is
offered but it has been won only twice in
eighty years, once by Comte Ed de Lam
bertye, and once by Rodolphe Hardy. For
twelve shots. all inside the ring. is given
the gold medal of honor, and that has been
won thirty times. Among the winners are
ten counts, one marquis, one baron. one
able. one prince, one Turk and one Amer
lean. The American is Ira Paine and
his would have taken the grand prize had
he been eligible for that honor. c. F.
Jones, another American. missed the grand
prize in 1884 by one shot out of the black.
THE French think nobody but them
selves can Shoot" says James S. Conlin,
''but there are men in this city of New
York who can beat the best of them. Frank
Lord is the most famous pistol shot in
America, and the things he has done with
a pistol are remarkable. Driving tacks,
splitting cards placed edgewise on the
wall, picking out the spots on ten of clubs,
hitting coins. swinging balls, musket caps,
and so on, are his common shots. He
never shoots in Matches however, and is
strictly an amateur. w. NJ. Chase. the ar
fist, has made full records, split cards, and